The focus of this GEN Market & Tech Analysis report is to present a snapshot of regional epigenetic down- and up-regulation in cancer with a focus toward prostate cancer.

We present here long-range epigenetic silencing (LRES) as a means for downregulation of stretches of the genome as well as long-range epigenetic activation (LREA). These two opposing effects appear to be mediated by an interplay between DNA methylation and chromatin modification. We've focused this analysis on an interrogation of prostate cancer.

Also presented herein are potential associations of long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) with distinct cancer classes. The potential utility of lncRNAs in finely modulating the expression of distinct regions of the genome makes this class of molecules attractive potential biomarkers and perhaps even therapeutic targets in the future.

Topics discussed in this report:

Epigenetic modulations result in both downregulation of gene expression as well as upregulation of gene expression.

It appears that “region-specific” epigenetic modulations have biological effects and these have been mapped in the case of several cancers including prostate cancer presented here.

lncRNAs have been shown to have epigenetic effects, and we present here a list of the various lncRNAs with annotation and association with various types of cancer—this field is expanding and in fact already one lncRNA has reached diagnostics status. More are expected to follow over the course of this decade.

Enal Razvi, Ph.D., conducted his doctoral work on viral immunology and subsequent to receiving his Ph.D. went on to the Rockefeller University in New York to serve as Aaron Diamond Post-doctoral fellow under Professor Ralph Steinman [Nobel Prize Winner in 2011 for his discovery of dendritic cells in the early-70s with Zanvil Cohn]. Subsequently, Dr. Razvi completed his research fellowship at Harvard Medical School. For the last two decades Dr. Razvi has worked with small and large companies and consulted for more than 100 clients worldwide. He currently serves as Biotechnology Analyst and Managing Director of SelectBio U.S. He can be reached at enal@selectbio.us.

Clare Stirzaker, Ph.D., is group leader and senior lecturer at the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, University of South Wales in Sydney, Australia.

Jobs

GEN Jobs powered by HireLifeScience.com connects you directly to employers in pharma, biotech, and the life sciences. View 40 to 50 fresh job postings daily or search for employment opportunities including those in R&D, clinical research, QA/QC, biomanufacturing, and regulatory affairs.

If you have any questions about your subscription, click
hereto email us or call at (914) 740-2189.

You may also be interested in subscribing to the GEN magazine, an indispensable
resource for everyone involved in the business of translating discoveries at the
bench into solutions that fight disease and improve health, agriculture, and the
environment. Subscribe
today to see why over 60,000 biotech professionals read GEN to
keep current in the areas of genomics, proteomics, drug discovery, biomarker discovery,
bioprocessing, molecular diagnostics, collaborations, biotech business trends, and
more.